/
Charity
Peggy Day
T
HE KING JAiVmSBIBLE an(~ the American Stand.ar~ Bible are two
excellent sources from which to draw for comparing words and
determining the chance and erowth of the English language.
The King James Bible date~ from 1611, while the American Standard
Bible dates from 1901. Between 1611 and 1901 the meanings of
many words and phrases have changed.
I
Take, for example, the word "charity" from the thirteenth .chapter
of I Corinthians.
A famous portion of this chapter is the thirteenth
verse which reads, according to the King James version, "And no~
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these IS
charity."
In the language as it stands today, charity is the act of
giving to the poor. It is very clear that this meaning of "charity" is
not what Paul meant because in the third verse of the same chapter,
King James Edition, it reads, "And though I bestow all my gOO?S to
feed the poor . . . and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
!f we apply the modern meaning of the word "charity" to this passage,
It would contradict itself. The passage would mean-"And
though
I bestow all my goods to feed the poor . . ." and not give to the
poor "it profiteth me nothing," which makes no sense at all.
In the American Revised Edition the word "love" has been substituted.
The word "love" itself has many different meanings a10d
uses, among which is "good will." If this meaninz is substituted 111
the third verse, it will have this meanin,y-"Anl'though
I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor . . ." but do not have good will "it
profitet~1 me nothing."
This gives the passage a clear meaning for
If one gives only because of necessity, the zift is not o'oing to be worth
as much as if one gives in the spirit of goo~l will. So: in the American
Standard Version, the thirteenth chapter reads, "But now abideth
faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love." The
meaning seems a little clearer when "charity" is replaced by "love."
In 1611 the word "charity" was used to mean "good will." Today, only in a very slight sense does "charity" mean "good will" ; now
it commonly means "giving to the poor."
By this example, it is
easy to see how words change their meanings in the course of many
years.
One might wonder how the meaning of "charity" will be
altered in the next few hundred years.